chanr
From: Melbourneabout me
I'm a student in Melbourne who spends most of the time burried in assignments. However, life would be dull if I spend all of it studying; I've got to leave room for other things as well. This is where my love for food comes in. My hobby is learning about food and getting in the kitchen and cooking. I've had this interest from a young age and have always enjoyed experiemnting in the kitchen.Hence, this is exactly what I do when I have spare time- experiment in the kitchen. I'd have to admit it's not often that I get the chance to do so though. Chanr =]Rise of the Pumpkin Pita 2
I must say that I have lay dormant on this whole site in general for quite a while now....so a belated Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year.
I just popped in for a peek and realised that I had forgotten about the pumpkin pita video. Well here it is, the pumpkin pita rising in the pan from that night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMzcdTL9TKc
(copy and paste into your browser to view if link doesn't work)
Ricotta and Grana Padano Gnocchi
Traditional gnocchi with potatoes, can be really heavy. By replacing it with ricotta and Grana Padano cheese, the gnocchi is airy and fluffy. Make lots, as the gnocchi holds really well in the freezer.This recipe serves four.
Ingredients
•500g Ricotta
•250g Grated Grana Padano (Cheese)
•Flour (For Binding And Dusting)
•4 tablespoons (60ml) Unsalted Butter
•Fresh Sage (Leaves)
Method
1.Place the soft ricotta cheese and Grana Padano
cheese in a large bowl and mix by folding
ingredients together.
2.Add a small amount of flour, to bind the dough and
absorb excess moisture.
3.Kneed the dough on a lightly floured work surface.
It is important not to add too much flour because
the gnocchi may get heavy.
4.Take a large piece of dough and roll it out into
thin logs, approximately 3/4-inch thick. Cut them
into 1/2-inch wide cubes.
5.Make ridges on each gnocchi by using the back of a
fork in a rolling action. The imprints will allow
the sauce to get trapped on the surface of the
gnocchi.
6.Place gnocchi on a tray in a single layer
underneath a cloth to prevent drying out. May be
set in fridge or freezer until needed.
7.To cook the gnocchi, place in a pot of boiling
salted water for about a minute or until they float
to the surface.
Sauce
1.Melt butter in a saucepan and add fresh sage
leaves.
2.Drain the gnocchi and add directly to the saucepan.
Cook together with the sauce for about 30 seconds.
Rise of the Pumpkin Pita
The pumpkin pita rising in the pan (see above video) was a product of my boredom one night when I just couldn't sit still at my desk and work. I hadn't really been in the kitchen for at least a month (I'm lucky to have a mum who cooks dinner for me), so I gave in and began to fiddle around randomly in the kitchen. This was the result:
Pumpkin Pita
evening
After rummaging around in the vegie crisper of the fridge, I emerged with a supermarket wrapped wedge of pumpkin (about 1/5 of a medium pumpkin). With the kettle put on the boil, I proceeded to seed, skin and cut up the pumpkin into little chunks.
With that done, the next step was to steam the pumpkin until tender. This took about ten minutes, and by then I was able to grab a fork and give it a good mash. You can blitz in the food processor of course. I actually ended up pushing it through a wire sieve.
So here I had mass of mashed pumpkin before me. What next? At the time, I was thinking of making some sort of pudding, but of course it didn't happen- I had a change of plan. Grabbing a container of plain flour, I poured in about 1.5 cups or so with a pinch of salt and started mixing. With a bit of patience and help from a dash of milk, I had a soft golden dough.
It had gotten quite late at this stage, so after a good kead, I clingwrapped the whole lot and let it rest in the frige overnight.
The next day
The dough had become a bit sticky on the outside, so I worked off a well floured plastic chopping board.
I gave the dough a very light knead and pulled off walnut sized chunks. Using the palm of my hands, I rolled each chunk into a ball and flattened it. Finally, I went over it with a rolling pin to achieve disks of about 22cm in diameter.
Heating a non-stick pan till it was hot (no oil or anything required), I lay a disk in the pan and cooked until the colour had changed. It's subtle, but obvious after a while. (it loses its 'transparent look') This is when I flipped it over and cooked it until brown spots appeared ( I must say that what's in the video is a bit too brown, but still, this one rose really well =]). I flipped it again, and this time, it began to puff up and rise. By this stage it's pretty much done.
I ended up with about 8 and they kept well in the freezer.
In terms of taste, it had the sweetness of pumkin and went down really well stuffed with mixed salad leaves as a lunch. Stuff it with whatever else you fancy but that's what I had at in the fridge at the time Actually, I ate them plain most of the time becuase the pumpkin taste was so good.
Note: I didn't measure anything so any quantaties given are only approximate
signing off.
Chanr =]
Introduction
I'm not the type who will stick to recipes. More often, I will look at the basics, get the jist of the theory behind it, and create recipes off the top the top of my head when I'm in the kitchen. I find great amusement in just fiddling around the kitchen with whatever I can find in the cupboards and see what I can muster up. It's a bit like the TV show "Ready Steady Cook" for those who have seen it. It's always intersting to see what I can come up with, and more often than not, the results are good. Of course, there are the odd disasters but then again, it's all part of the fun!
I will be dedicating most of my posts on this blog to creations that result from me just fiddling around the kitchen and experimenting with ingredients.
Chanr 
